Huge Crowds Fill A+A's Halls
DUSSELDORF, Germany -- A+A 2009, the biennial trade fair held at Dusseldorf's sprawling fairgrounds and billed as the world's largest safety show, is beating the odds and the economic slowdown with its crowds and exhibitor numbers this week. Attendees are packing the eight halls filled with 53,096 square meters of exhibits from 1,554 total exhibitors, down only slightly from 54,320 square meters of space occupied by 1,449 exhibitors in 2007, according to show organizer Messe Dusseldorf.
American companies and PPE companies supplying the U.S. market are well represented, many of them using large, two-story booths, and 11 U.S. companies occupy the North American Pavilion in Hall 3. The Uvex booth, also in Hall 3, is especially busy, but the booths of Honeywell Safety Products, MSA, Ansell, and 3M are also drawing big crowds. But North America is a small part of this show, which draws 538 of its exhibitors from Germany, 238 from China, 88 from Italy, 62 from India, 42 from Pakistan, and 35 each from Taiwan and the Netherlands.
Russia is a partner country for this show, with a pavilion occupied by Russian firms and leaders of the country's PPE manufacturers group, Sorokin Yuri Grigorevetch, and the federal agency for labor and employment's department for control and supervision over compliance with labor legislation, Safonov Alexander lvovich, speaking Tuesday about opportunities for foreign partners to participate in Russia's PPE market.
A+A 2009 continues through Friday and returns to the fairgrounds in fall 2011.